Australian
Open Government Partnership
Civil Society Network

TI Corruption Perception Index 2018-Australia on the slippery slide

by Peter Timmins

The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, using a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

The 2018 index “reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world. While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption.”

Australia is among them with a score of 77/100 and ranking 13 of 180 countries.

In 2012, Australia scored 85 and was ranked 7th.

Since, the score has drifted- 81, 80, 79, and 77 this year and last.

New Zealand, Number 1 in 2012 with a score of 90, has a score of 87 in 2012, one point behind the leader Denmark.

The government’s Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2016-2018 released in September last year does not include concrete, ambitious commitments that would arrest the decline.